


Hear Me Out

by Taitai83



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Eventual reveal, Marinette Gets a Clue, Oblivio takes place before animaestro in this, accidental reveal, adrien still doesn't, because there's no clear timeline anyway, fluff and angst and fluff again, one-sided reveal, spoilers for all of season 3 actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-01-15 08:26:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18495154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taitai83/pseuds/Taitai83
Summary: Picks up at the end of Animaestro. Marinette watches the Ladybug and Chat Noir movie, hears Adrien as the voice of Chat Noir, and puts 2 and 2 together.





	1. The Premier

**Author's Note:**

> I have a second chapter written but I'm not totally happy with it and I have no idea where I'm going with it anyway, so it might stay a one-shot

Marinette settled back in her chair and tried to slow her breathing. She was fine. No big deal. She was sitting next to Adrien Agreste, so what? She was fine, this was fine, she could relax and _OHMYGODTHATSHISARMONTHEARMREST!!!!_

She jerked her treacherous limb back and clasped her hands in her lap, acknowledged his whispered “ _sorry”_ with what she hoped came out as a smile, and set about regulating her heart-rate again. Deep breaths. In-two-three-four, out-two-three-four, in-two-three-fou…

The lights dimmed and the opening credits rolled and Marinette was so tense it was a wonder she didn’t just tip forward off of her seat. She kept her hands locked in her lap and her unblinking eyes trained on the screen and tried not to burst into flames.

The scene opened with her animated-self leaping off a building and whipping her yo-yo around a hapless akuma victim who seemed to be based off of Roger-cop. As Cartoon-Ladybug secured the villain, Cartoon-Chat Noir could be heard bellowing from off screen:

_“Cataclysm!!”_

_Oh! Adrien voiced Chat Noir! Okokokok, this is good. I can pretend that Adrien is Chat Noir. I can keep it together with Chat Noir._

She closed her eyes and listened to the dialogue, letting Adrien’s voice spouting Chat Noir’s _Bugaboo, shoulda copt to himself!, I’m the cat’s meow_ , etc wash over her, and in short order she found herself almost entirely calmed down, groaning inwardly and rolling her eyes at his lines, and smirking just a little bit. They’d really gotten Chat’s goofy personality down in this scene, and she was grateful for the grounding her partner could always give her, even in his animated form.

She cringed a bit hearing the unfamiliar voice of Cartoon-Ladybug purify the akuma and call forth the miraculous Cure, but smiled fondly again as her and Chat’s avatars gave each other their customary fist bump. Her smile turned thoughtful as Cartoon-Chat brought Cartoon-Ladybug’s hand to his lips for a kiss with a grin and a laughing “ _Always a pleasure, My Lady.”_

_Boy, Adrien has Chat’s mannerisms down, that was spot on. Hahaha, get it? Oh God, Chat’s gotten into my head…_

As the film progressed, she found herself focusing mostly on her black-clad partner’s character. The filmmakers hadn’t actually gotten him quite right, she decided. They had the over-the-top show-offy side for sure, but they didn’t have the kindness and concern that balanced him out. She was probably the only one who really ever saw that side, she realized, given his tendency to ham it up for any camera pointed his direction. Which was too damn bad, because despite Chat’s ridiculousness in that regard, at heart he was a proper hero and he deserved to be recognized for it. Completely devoid of the quieter side of Chat, Marinette began to feel more unsettled as the movie progressed. Eventually, though, she found that if she closed her eyes and could avoid seeing the ever-present smirk they had embedded on Cartoon-Chat’s face, his voice was so dead on that she was actually able to picture him as he was in real life. All the little inflections and intonations that made him _CHAT_ were accounted for, and she smiled as she pictured his laughing face and bright green eyes as they really should have been for the dialogue.

Not for the first time, she found herself thinking about The Kiss, and wondering again what she could have learned in the space of 1 hour that would have compelled her to kiss the boy with such obvious love in her heart.

_Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you are an idiot._

Because she knew damn well that she would have learned that he was smart and funny and loyal and trustworthy, and that their partnership was as seamless as it was because _they were two halves of a whole_ , as Tikki liked to remind her. Her obliviated self wouldn’t have had on the emotional blinders that she’d maintained their whole friendship under the guise of “professionalism”. Like there was some kind of code-of-conduct handbook for magical superheroes. This level of introspection should have upset her, but somehow, as she listened to the sounds of Pop-Culture Cartoon-Ladybug and Chat Noir, she only felt a closer kinship with the single person in the world who could _really_ understand her and what it actually meant to be a hero of Paris.

She kept her eyes closed through the grand finale.

_“On your left, My Lady!”_

_“We could use a bit of your luck, My Lady!”_

_“Great work, My Lady!”_

_“You know this Chat will wait for you forever, My Lady.”_

_(Hmm, they must be setting up for a sequel.)_

She heard the audience applaud and joined in, opening her eyes and smiling at her imagined Chat while the credits rolled.

“Did you enjoy the movie, M-“ came his cherished voice from the left, and Marinette started to turn towards him.

“-arinette?”

Her languid smile froze on her face and her blood turned to ice in her veins as blue eyes snapped to green ones. Those kind green eyes, achingly familiar, looked at her with a mild curiosity instead of the usual love-sick adoration, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that they were human now instead of feline, she would know those eyes anywhere. She couldn’t move, couldn’t respond, couldn’t do anything except stare at him, her own eyes wide and unblinking.

“Marinette?” Adrien Agreste was speaking to her with Chat Noir’s voice as he looked at her with Chat Noir’s eyes and her brain dissociated from her body. Those beautiful, damnable eyes shifted to concern as he leaned in a bit. She was sure she looked like she was having a stroke or something, judging by his expression, and she recognized that too – how many times had he looked at rescued akuma victims, injured citizens, even HER, with that exact same kind, concerned expression? But it wasn’t right, HE wasn’t right.

Dimly, she saw a hand reach into her field of vision, slim fingers extending towards the perfectly combed blond hair on the boy in front of her. His expression shifted to confusion as she watched the fingers dig into his locks, but it wasn’t until the hand had tugged and scruffed that perfect hair into a wild mess that her short-circuiting brain even recognized it as her own. But didn’t matter, because her partner was beside her properly again.

“Oh, there you are, Kitty,” she murmured, voice barely above a breath.

She didn’t even mean to say it aloud, but he heard her anyway. Those oh-so-expressive eyes gave way to shock. And alarm. And alarm in the face of her Kitty-Chat acted as a defibrillator to her misfiring nervous system.

She snatched her hand back as though burned and smacked herself in the face in the process.

“I’m so sorry! I just… you were… HAHAHA! You are great… you DID great! As Chat! But you’re not Chat! Because your hair! Sorry, I just… I’m sorry!” She scrambled to her feet, her eyes watering a bit from the ache in her nose.

She was vaguely aware that he was still looking at her, that his hair was still fluffed out wildly, and that Kagami had made some kind of a noise from his other side and seemed to be handing him a comb. She chanced a glance at him when she saw him move to take it, but still locked onto his bright green eyes. There was no mistaking the fear she saw in them. She plastered what she hoped was a smile, but was certainly more of a grimace, onto her face.

“Great job, Adrien! I have to go help my parents now!” and she bolted out of the theater without looking back.

She spent the entire after-party knowing exactly where Adrien Agreste was, but it wasn’t like before. Now that she had seen him as Chat, KNEW him to be Chat, she didn’t feel the same terrible self-consciousness that had previously had her craning her neck around the room to see where he might be. Now she could FEEL him, the way she could feel him when she was Ladybug and their synchronicity was such that she always knew where her partner was and what move he was going to make. It made it easy for her to avoid him. He was a star here, after all, and had to smile for the press, talk to the producer, be an escort to Kagami and play nice with Chloe. She, on the other hand, was invisible. She could feel him looking for her, could feel his fear, but she couldn’t deal with it right now. Right now, she was Ladybug handling a situation; the situation being holding off the impending implosion of her sanity, and handling it being that she would be a walking tray of macarons and stay out of his sight. As soon as the cookies were gone and the actress who had voiced Ladybug had spilled a glass of wine on Kagami’s mother ( _how appropriate, that’s_ **totally** _something I would do_ ), Marinette begged off from her parents and escaped to the sanctuary of her room, where she could fall apart in peace.

 

 


	2. The Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you all SO MUCH for the kind words and kudos. This is the first creative writing I've ever shared with anyone (that wasn't a teacher of some kind), so it really means a lot.
> 
> I have some ideas for this story now, but will have to work to keep it from getting out of control. I don't have the energy or time to write an "epic", nor do I have the emotional bandwidth to write the level of angst and devastation that I think would be required for a full "take down Hawkmoth" story arc, so my goal is to keep this to 6-ish chapters and focus on the Love-Square relationship development.
> 
> Thanks for coming along for the ride!

“Tikki, if Adrien is Chat, you’ll tell me, right?”

“Uhh, well, is that an actual quest…”

“Tikki, is Adrien Chat?”

“… yes.”

 --

Four hours and several bouts of screaming into her pillow later, Marinette could say she had calmed down. She had accepted that Adrien was Chat Noir fairly early on in the freak-out process _(I mean, why the hell WOULDN’T he be a superhero on top of everything else?_ ), but she took considerably longer to come to terms with the fact that she had rejected the advances of the love of her life more times than she could count, and she still hadn’t really reconciled herself to the idea that she likely didn’t know Adrien as well as she thought if she hadn’t recognized the side of him that emerged as Chat.

So here she was, sitting at her desk at 1am with her head on her arms, thinking about her now-incredibly complicated relationship with Adri-Chat.

And that’s when she heard the tapping on her skylight.

Instead of looking up right away, she squeezed her eyes shut in a fruitless attempt to pretend THIS WAS NOT HAPPENING. But her Kitty was not dissuaded so easily. He tapped again.

She sighed and looked up. He was barely visible as blond hair and pale skin against the black night sky, but she could see the movement of his wave. Reluctantly accepting that this conversation would happen tonight, she waved him in.

He bypassed her loft and landed on the floor in a crouch, then grinned up at her. His smile was bright and full, his posture as he stood was arrogant and relaxed, and all of it was total bullshit. There was a tightness in his eyes – always always always, he was given away by those incredibly expressive wears-his-heart-in-his-eyes.

“What’s keeping you up so late, Princess?” he drawled, leaning on his staff in his best model “nonchalant hot stuff” pose.

She leaned forward in her chair and tilted her head at him.

“You know, if you had hoped to convince me I was wrong, you really should have waited a few days to come interrogate me. Until tomorrow at the least.”

The fake smile didn’t drop but he visibly tensed. 

“I don’t know what you me-“

“Please don’t, Adrien,” she begged, squeezing her eyes shut and hiding her face in her hands. “I don’t have a sliver of a doubt anyway and it’s hard enough as it is.”

She peeked out from between her fingers to watch him drop the charade. He straightened up and frowned at her for a moment, before apparently deciding it was hopeless and dropping himself heavily into her chaise, imitating her position behind his hands.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I swear, I didn’t mean to. And I’m so sorry about your hair, and in public! I didn’t even realize I was doing it, I just…”

“Can you just tell me…” he interrupted her, swallowing thickly. “Just… tell me how you knew?”

“Your voice, in the movie,” she answered quietly. “It was Chat’s voice. But I didn’t realize it until the end, when suddenly it was Chat’s voice coming from Adrien’s mouth.”

Chat groaned, tail lashing behind him in agitation. “Uggghh, I KNEW I shouldn’t have done that stupid movie! I thought since I wasn’t IN this one, and with the electronic distortion, it would be ok, but clearly… oh my God, Ladybug is going to KILL me.”

“Hey Chat-Adrie-Chat, aarrgh!! CHAT! I think… I think it will be ok.” She did. She had thought about this for the last four hours. Talked it over with Tikki, worried every possible angle, and had come to this conclusion.

He looked up at her with anguish in his face. “And what makes you think that? I mean, you figured it out, how many other people are going to figure it out? I’m so screwed!”

“Yeah, but…” She chewed on her lip. “The thing is, I don’t think that most people know you – Adrien you – and Chat you – as well as I do. I mean, I think, I - .” She paused and let out a breath. “I think that most people wouldn’t put it together, but I did because I know both sides of you pretty well. Does that make sense?”

The look he gave her was both doubtful and appraising, as though he was thinking over her assertion and considering just how well she would actually know Chat. She needed a diversion from that line of thinking.

“Do you… do you want to detransform? I can get us a snack if you want, I know Chat likes croissants,” she gave him a small smile, both trying to be reassuring and lighten the atmosphere between them.

He sighed. “Yeah, ok. But hey, when I detransform, I don’t want you to freak out, but there will be a…uh… creature…”

“Your kwami,” she said automatically, surprising both of them.

_Why on EARTH would you say THAT, Marinette?!_

He looked up at her sharply. “How… how do you know what a kwami is?”

“I…I’ve fed Ladybug’s kwami before, when she needed to recharge in a battle.” _Not a lie._

“You’ve seen her kwami?”

“Yeah. Tikki. I kind of freaked out the first time, I can see why you would warn me.” _Also not a lie._  

“Do you… know who Ladybug is?”

“I’ve… never seen her detransform.” _Ok, now this was pushing it._

“But you’ve talked to her while she was detransformed?”

“I… I’ve had a few words with her. Look, please don’t ask me questions about her. I can’t talk about it.”

His face cleared in understanding, and he nodded and dropped his eyes to the floor, brow furrowed in thought. “Ok, then. Plagg, claws in.”

She watched in fascination as the green light erased the black leather suit, leaving Adrien Agreste in some very uncharacteristic joggers and a t-shirt, and swallowed a reflexive “ _meep!”_ at the sight of him. A tiny black cat-mouse flopped to the chaise dramatically.

“I’m too hungry for this drama! I need cheeeeeese!”

Marinette smiled. “Cheese it is, then. And a croissant for the Chat.”

Adrien gave her a half-hearted smile as she descended the steps. “Thanks, Marinette.”

\--

Marinette returned bearing a platter of pastries and cheese and two mugs of hot chocolate, interrupting a murmured discussion between Adrien and his kwami.

Plagg descended on the brie while lamenting the absence of camembert, a display that earned him a “ _manners!”_ scolding from Adrien. For his part, Adrien clutched his mug of chocolate between his hands as if drawing comfort from it.

“Marinette, I need to say a few things about this situation,” he started as she settled back into her desk chair, cradling her own mug of chocolate. He looked up at her and she could see the worry and fear in his eyes.

_Those damn eyes! How did I never see it before? Oh, because you couldn’t hold eye contact with Adrien for more than 5 milliseconds without turning your brain into mush, you twit._

“Ok, so first of all, you have to know that you absolutely can’t tell anyone else about me.”

“Adrien, I would NEVER-“ 

“I know! I know. I know you wouldn’t, Marinette, but I just had to say it anyway.” He sighed, looking troubled. “I know that you wouldn’t, really. And especially now that I know that you’ve had encounters with Ladybug too, I know you’re probably one of the only people in the world that I can absolutely trust with my identity, but I still had to say it.”

She frowned at his downcast expression, his eyes dropped to the floor again. “Adrien, are you ok? I know you’re worried, but really, I think it’s going to be ok.”

“It’s not that. Well, not entirely.” He looked back up at her, a wry, sad smile at the corner of his mouth. “I should probably be more worried than I actually am, honestly. It’s just, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I had always hoped the first person who learned my identity would be Ladybug.”

Aaaaand here it was. The uncomfortable truth that she had squashed into the furthest corner of her mind while she dealt with everything else this evening. Adrien was Chat Noir. Chat Noir was in love with Ladybug. And Ladybug was Marinette, ergo, Adrien was in love with Marinette.

Except he didn’t know that last part.

“…going to have to tell Ladybug that you know,” he was saying. “I mean, since she knows you, she probably won’t kill me entirely dead, I might get lucky and be just **mostly** dead. I can live with mostly dead.”

“You keep using that word, I don’t think it means what you think it means.” Marinette couldn’t help herself, giggling at her own wit and reaching for her croissant.

“What word?”

She looked up at him, a bit surprised, and found him staring at her in confusion.

“Dead, ‘mostly dead’,” she giggled again, and put on a nasally drawl. “There’s a big difference between mostly dead, and all dead.” She smiled up at him, only to find him staring at her in confusion.

“Well yeah, that’s what I said.”

Then it dawned on her. “Adrien. Have you never seen the Princess Bride?”

“No, is that a Disney movie?”

“How can you- how have you- what?!?!” She waved her arms frantically over her head in disbelief, losing half of her croissant in the process. “Chat Noir is the king of terrible puns and ridiculous anime quotes and totally inappropriate movie references! I assumed he’d seen every movie ever created on this earth to make so many! How have you NEVER SEEN THE PRINCESS BRIDE??”

“Hey! My puns are not terrible! And my quotes and references are always _spot on_ for the situation!” He smirked slightly. “Ok, maybe that last one only works on Ladybug, but still!”

“Please, _none_ of your puns work ON Ladybug,” she scoffed with disdain.

“How would you know, Princess? My Lady loves my puns!” 

Hearing Adrien use both of Chat’s nicknames for her brought her up short. How easy it had been to slip into her usual banter now that she knew who he was. Six hours ago she couldn’t manage to say “Hello, Adrien” without tripping over both her mouth AND her feet, and now she was openly teasing him for his goofball antics as Chat. It was dangerous to forget herself.

Besides, he was right. How WOULD she know? She forced herself to smile at him again, though she could tell from the way his brow furrowed a bit that he noticed her change in mood.

“You’re right,” she said softly. “How would I know? You have a strong partnership, I’m sure she at least PRETENDS to like them.”

Adrien quirked a skeptical smile though his slight frown stayed put. Then he sighed.

“I got off track. I had this whole list in my head that I needed to talk to you about. I think I got to the part about having to tell Ladybug that you know. She and I can figure out if there’s something we can do to protect you.” His frown deepened. “I have to tell you, Marinette, I’m finding this all a lot scarier than I thought I would. I’ve wanted to know Ladybug’s identity since basically the beginning, but now that someone actually knows mine, I’m starting to understand why she was so adamantly against it. When you were downstairs it hit me how dangerous this is for YOU. If anyone ever found out you know who I am, you’d become a target.”

He looked up and met her eyes before looking back at the floor. “I guess… I never…” he swallowed hard. “I don’t have a lot of people who care deeply about me, or who I care deeply about in return. So now that one of those people is in danger because of me-… And you being in my class means a lot of opportunities for slip ups.”

Her heart stuttered in her chest, both at his admission of affection and at his heartbreaking confession of isolation. Again, she had to confront the difficult knowledge that she didn’t know him as well as she had thought.

_How could I not have seen this loneliness in Adrien? How could I not have seen it in CHAT? What kind of partner have I been to him?_

“The good thing is we’re already good friends, well, kind-of-good friends at least.” His eyes briefly flashed up to glance at her uncertainly, and she frowned at the qualifier, though she didn’t say anything.

“S-so it won’t seem weird if I push you out of danger if there’s an attack or something,” he continued. He sighed again and scrubbed his face and head with his hands, mussing his hair. When he looked up again all she could see was Chat Noir and his sad kitty eyes broke her heart.

Marinette scooted her chair over next to him and took his hand in hers. “It’s going to be ok, Adrien. I promise. I haven’t been akumatized and I don’t plan to be, and I know you and Ladybug will figure out what to do overall.”

The smile he gave her was small, but warm and affectionate, and he squeezed her hand in mutual assurance.

“But for now,” she continued, “I think you should probably go home. You look awful. I mean-!” She straightened up, face flushing. “I mean, not awful, you could never look awful, because you’re gorgeous. I mean-! Because you’re a model! And you-“ She gave up, crumpling in on herself and folding her head to her knees, though she didn’t release his hand. “Uuuugh just forget it. Adrien, _Chat_ , please go home and get some rest and I am going to try to forget this whole day ever happened.”

She could feel him chuckling through their joined hands. “We’ll get out of your hair. Plagg? Hey, where’d you go?”

“Coming, coming.” The little black God appeared from the loft and Adrien frowned at him.

“What were you doing up there? You weren’t going through Marinette’s things, were you? She doesn’t need more trouble from us.”

“I was snuggling!”

Marinette’s eyes widened.

“Snuggling?” Adrien repeated.

“Yeah, that black cat pillow is great for a nap! It really does the _tik_ ,” he drawled, glancing sideways at Marinette.

_Subtle, cat-mouse. Really subtle._

Thankfully, Adrien didn’t seem to notice. He called up his transformation and turned towards Marinette again as she frowned at him.

“Are you… taller?”

He smirked. “The better to disguise myself, don’t you think?”

She rolled her eyes so hard she could see inside her skull. “You really are a ridiculous cat. How do you have the whole world believing you’re a sophisticated jet-setter?”

The smirk turned a bit sad.

“Practice, Princess.”

_Oh._

He took her hand again before she could figure out what to say.

“Thanks for letting me in tonight, Marinette. I know I shouldn’t have come at all, but I was going to go mad wondering. And you made me feel a bit better.”

She squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you did. I admit, I didn’t want you to come, but I would have driven myself crazy too. This helped.”

He pulled her hand up and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. She was so familiar with the move as Ladybug that she didn't even register she was still _Marinette_  until he released her.

“See you tomorrow.” He leapt out of the skylight and was gone.

Marinette climbed up to her loft and pulled the skylight shut, then flopped back onto her bed and covered her face. 

“Are you ok, Marinette?”

“Yeah, Tikki. I feel a bit better. Did you have a nice _snuggle_ with Plagg?”

The kwami scowled. “He should NOT have said those things. Adrien isn’t dumb, any more of that and he’ll figure it out!”

“Yeah. Welp, Adrien is Chat Noir. Guess I just have to deal with it. Now on to the next problem.”

“What’s that?”

“Does Ladybug tell Chat that she knows who he is?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, I have no consistency with chapter lengths or post-timing. Sorry 'bout that, I can't help it!


	3. The Theory

Ladybug was not at all surprised to find Chat Noir already waiting for her at the meeting spot when she turned up for patrol the following day. She was expecting some kind of confession about her civilian ego figuring him out, though she was curious how he planned to address it.

Seeing him in school that day had gone better than she had expected. She was legitimately exhausted, having not even tried to close her eyes until somewhere around 3am, so her reactions were too slow for freak outs OR familiarity, and her lack of focus was easily explained by sleep deprivation. Nevertheless, there had been a sticky spot at lunch when Adrien had been joking with Nino and Alya about the movie and Marinette had been staring glassy-eyed at the far wall. 

“You could totally do a live-action Chat Noir movie, Dude!”

“No way man, voice acting is one thing, but I’d have to actually parkour and I’d die!”

“But you have all those smooth skills from fencing, bro! You’d be great!”

“You’d be puuuuurrfect,” Marinette had murmured absently.

She’d only realized she’d said it out loud when all dialogue ceased. She had refocused her glazed eyes to see all of them staring at her, and promptly sat straight up, clapped a hand over her mouth, and turned bright red 

“I mean-! I don’t-! You’d-! Uhhh…”

She was saved from further explanation by Nino bursting out laughing. “Good one, Marinette! It’s like the lady says, bro, you’d be PUURRFECT!”

“Hahaha, yeah, good one, Marinette.” Adrien’s laugh was definitely more forced than Nino’s and she grimaced in apology as she caught his eye, but looked away again quickly.

As the boys picked up their debate again, a smirking Alya had nudged Marinette’s ribs with her elbow. “Girl! A pun?! I didn’t know you had it in you! A little more sleep-deprivation and you’ll be talking to him like a normal person!”

Ugh, she was still cringing at the memory. Thank God it was Friday and she could avoid them all. As a civilian anyway.

Chat turned towards her as she landed lightly on the rooftop behind him. “Good evening, Chaton. How are you doing tonight?”

“Honestly, My Lady, I’ve been better.”

 _Ok, right to it then, I guess_.

He continued, looking sideways at her nervously. “W-would you mind if we skip the actual patrol tonight? I have something really important to talk to you about and I won’t be able to concentrate on anything else.”

She dropped down next to him and took his hand in hers, squeezing it gently as she gave him a small smile. “Talk to me, Kitty. How can I help?

He squeezed her hand in return and gave a sigh, turning to look back out over the lights of Paris. “I screwed up, LB. I screwed up, and a friend of mine figured out who I am.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m so, so sorry, My Lady! I’m so sorry. I’ve let you down. I-“

“Kitty, stop,” she cut off his self-recrimination, though she could tell it would likely have gone on a while. This was pretty much what she had expected. “We’re gonna figure this out, ok? You and me. We’re partners and I’ve got your back as much as you’ve got mine, and together we will figure out a plan. Ok?”

He didn’t answer immediately, his lips pressed in a thin line as he stared out at the city. Finally he took a deep, if shaky, breath. “I don’t deserve you, M’lady. Thank You. Ok.”

“Ok then. Tell me the story.”

“Ok, so like I said, my friend figured out who I am. Marinette. I’ve actually already talked to her about this, and she said she’s helped you and Tikki out before? 

Ladybug nodded and squeezed his hand again, encouraging him to continue.

“Ok, so you know we don’t have to be worried about her keeping it a secret, she’s amazing and completely trustworthy. But I AM worried about two things. The first is _how_ she figured it out.” He paused, frowning slightly as he turned towards her. “Ladybug, if I tell you how she figured it out, it will give away my identity to you as well. I could use your advice here, but it’s bad enough that one person already knows. I’m not sure…” He trailed off.

Ladybug narrowed her eyes in thought, studying Chat’s face and trying to make up her mind. Finally, she pursed her lips and said “The Ladybug and Chat Noir movie. 

Chat’s eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t say anything.

“You’re Adrien Agreste,” she continued. 

“H-how? How did you KNOW? 

Ladybug sighed. He was going to feel even worse, but she couldn’t let him think she didn’t know. “I saw the movie. Your voice as Chat was too perfect, and of course I knew who had done the voice-acting.” She grimaced a little as she took in his reaction.

“Sorry,” she added.

“No, but this is exactly what I’m afraid of! You figured me out from my voice in the movie too! That’s how Marinette knew! Other people are SURE to figure it out as well! What am I going to DO?” He dropped onto his back and pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes in distress.

“Hey there, Kitty,” she said, reaching over to pull his hands off his face again. “Let’s talk about this, because I don’t think it’s going to be a big thing. C’mere, seriously, sit up.” She tried to pull him up but, as he didn’t offer any help, wasn’t successful.

“Seriously, Chat. I talked with Tikki about this for a LONG time, I really don’t think anyone else is going to put it together.” 

“You and Marinette BOTH figured it out the same way. Why on earth wouldn’t everyone else do the same?”

“Ok, let’s start with the basic questions. After the premier, did anyone say anything to you about your voice being the same?”

“You mean apart from Marinette Chat-ing up my hair and saying ‘Oh there you are, Kitty’?”

She grimaced. “Yeah, I think Marinette is a special case, so yes, APART from her. Anyone? Your co-stars? Your friends? Your FATHER?”

He frowned, apparently thinking. “Not really. People told me I did a good job, that I was a _natural_ , that kind of thing. But no one said anything about how similar our voices were.”

“So, after watching Chat Noir with your voice for an hour and a half, and then talking to you immediately afterwards, not even the people you’re closest to had any kind of suspicions. Would you say that’s correct?”

He continued to frown, but it seemed more thoughtful than worried. “Yeeeeesss. I guess that is true. And that makes me feel a bit better. But,” and now he did sit up. “But both you and Marinette knew!”

“Yeah, but again, I’ve talked to Tikki about this, and I think it’s different. She’s told me before that the Miraculous stones have a kind of glamor that prevents easy identification. I mean, if just plain voice recognition was all it took, we would have been found out after that first battle, and certainly since then with all the video footage everywhere. But for us, for you and me, it’s different. I’m your partner, your balance. Your ring and my earrings are two halves of a whole, and we were chosen to wield these stones because of who WE are. You and I have a different kind of connection between us than regular people, thanks to that magic. I think that’s why we work so well together in battles, because we KNOW each other, we can feel each other without conscious thought. That kind of connection can break through the glamour, given the right circumstances.”

She looked up at him and was a bit surprised at how soft his eyes had gotten as he looked at her. Hastily, she cleared her throat and bumped his shoulder. “Or so Tikki says. Besides, no one spends more time with Chat than me, and your pun delivery is one of a kind. No way Adrien would have known how to do that without inside information.”

_Way to go all heavy on him, Marinette. That’s just what he needs tonight._

The use of his first name seemed to pull Chat back to himself. “Th-thanks, My Lady. That was- I really needed to hear that.” He frowned again. “But what about Marinette? How could she have put it together, then?”

Ladybug hesitated. “W-Well, like I said, Marinette is… a special case. I can’t really explain it better than that. 

_Operative word being “can’t”._

Chat was still frowning at her. She couldn’t blame him, she should have thought of a better rationale for Civilian-Marinette figuring it out.

“Ladybug…” Chat began slowly. “Does- does Marinette know who you are?”

 _Say no. Say something half-true. Say NO!_  

“…yes.”

Chat’s eyes blew comically wide and then he ducked his head, his hands grabbing at his face before sliding back to clutch at his hair. “AAARRRRGGGGHH!!! No no no no no no, this is BAD!! LB! This is a disASTER!!" 

“Whoa whoa whoa, Chat!! What the hell?! I didn’t expect your reaction to be THIS-“

“Ladybug! Marinette! Oh my God! I thought she’d be in more danger because of ME, but knowing about BOTH OF US?! And she’s… she’s…”

“Chat, whoa, ok, yeah it’s not a great situation, but I really don’t think…”

“No, no, you don’t understand! She’s in my class, she’s close to me, she’s… AAARGH!”

“Chat, seriously, you’re freaking me out, what the hell are you talking about?”

Chat let go of his hair and took a breath, and then another, looking at Ladybug, at the ground, out at the city, as if hoping to find a solution somewhere nearby. 

“Ok. Ok, so hear me out. I’ve had this… theory, for lack of a better word, for a while, but it’s never really… let me just explain it to you.”

Ladybug was still frowning at him in concern but nodded for him to continue.

“I could never… ok, since you know I’m Adrien, I can tell you this now. The fact is, almost everyone in my class at school has been akumatized. In fact, I think Marinette and I are the only two who haven’t been. That’s a WAY higher percentage than the general population. Several other people within the school have been as well, not at the same rate as my class, but still higher than everywhere else. And outside of school, a VAST majority of the akumas we’ve faced have been related to me somehow. Either they are people connected to me personally, connected to people in my class, or they were attacked while in my general vicinity.” 

“Chat, what are you getting at?”

“I just… I have this theory… that it’s me. That Hawkmoth is more sensitive to the people and places close to me, either because he’s drawn to the power of my Miraculous or because I’m a black cat and just have that kind of eff-ing luck.”

He paused and her frown deepened. She’d never thought of it before, but he was absolutely right. There were, what- two? Three?- who had been completely random victims. Everyone else had been triggered by or near her and Adrien. She had never considered her Miraculous as a potential beacon for magic, but it could make sense.

As she took in this new revelation, he continued. “That’s why I’m so terrified for Marinette. She literally sits behind me in class. I can protect her from danger when it arrives, but what if I’m the REASON danger arrives? I can’t protect her from ME. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before Hawkmoth targets her, given how the rest of my class has gone. And she knows about BOTH of us! This is about as worst-case-scenario as you can get here.”

He looked up at her, kitten eyes pleading with her to tell him he was wrong, but she couldn’t. His theory made sense, though it was not quite as clear cut as he thought. He didn’t know that Ladybug sat behind him in class, that her magic might be drawing them in as well, or amplifying his. 

“That’s… a really interesting theory.” Ladybug looked out at the city, her brow remaining furrowed in thought. “I’d never even considered that perspective. It makes sense in a way, though you’d think one of our kwamis would have mentioned a connection like that. Or Master Fu.”

She turned back to look at him. “I need to think about this. Talk to Tikki about it, or something. I don’t really know what to make of it right now.”

Chat nodded, hugging his knees to his chest and resting his head on them. “So what do we do about Marinette?”

“What do you mean, ‘ _do_ about Marinette’?” she asked, feeling a bit defensive.

“We have to protect her! I just told you how often akumas target my school, she’s in a lot of danger! Plus, even if Hawkmoth never actually finds out she knows, if she gets hit by any mind-control akumas, it could be a problem for US.”

_Oh Kitty, if only you actually knew what kind of problem that would be._

“Well, Chat,” she sighed. “If she needs protecting, then protect her. But honestly, we already protect whatever citizens we can. And Marinette is stronger than you seem to think,” she added with a bite to her voice.

Chat raised his head in alarm. “No! I didn’t mean that! I know her, remember? I know she’s amazing, I’ve even said she’s an ‘every-day Ladybug’, it’s just…” he trailed off and sighed.

“What?”

“I’m not sure how to explain this without it sounding wrong. Marinette is… passionate. She feels things deeply. Mostly she’s a super positive person, and she’s very kind, so it’s generally a good thing, but sometimes…” he pressed his lips into a line. “When she feels something is wrong, she won’t let it go. For a problem to be fixed that’s great, but… There’s a girl in our class who’s lies about everything, and honestly I’m surprised Marinette hasn’t had an aneurysm over her yet. Now that I think about it, I’m ACTUALLY more surprised she hasn’t been akumatized over her, she drives her so crazy. I don’t even know what I’m trying to say, really, I’m just… worried.”

Ladybug looked at him sideways, trying to decide how she felt about his little speech. Ultimately, she decided it was more or less true regardless.

“I’m sure you’ll know how to help if there’s a problem. You always know what I need at the moment I need it. AND I’m sure the same will be true for Marinette!” she added hastily. 

“Yeah but-“ 

“Chat, seriously,” Ladybug stood up and offered him her hand. “I appreciate that you’re worried. About Marinette, about your identity…”

“About you, too,” he added as he let her pull him up.

“About me,” she amended. “I can’t tell you to not be worried, but just know that I’M not worried, not much, at least not about the Marinette-identity part of things.” 

“Oh? What part IS worrying you?” 

“Your theory, about the draw of the Miraculouses. I’ve been- it makes some kind of sense, though I don’t think it’s YOU per se. I want to think about it a bit, talk to Tikki, I don’t know.” She squeezed his hand and gave him a small smile. “You gonna be ok?”

She opened her arms to him and he stepped into them gratefully, tucking her head under his chin as he pulled her against him.

“Yeah, M’Lady. I think I will. Thanks for everything tonight.” She could feel the words rumbling comfortingly through his chest and thought of the purr she had heard on occasion. She gave him a squeeze and made to step back, but he held her close for a moment longer. 

“And My Lady, I just want to say… again, I’m sorry. I know you didn’t want to know who I am, but I always… I hoped that I’d be able to tell you myself, tell you first, someday… and… I’m sorry I screwed this up.”

“Oh, Kitty,” she sighed, hugging him tightly around the middle. “It’s not your fault. And no matter who you are under the mask, we’re partners, and I trust you. But it IS nice to know that you’re as perfect as you seem.” 

She pinched his side teasingly as he huffed a soft laugh.

_Perfect. And so easy to tease. What was my PROBLEM with Adrien?_

“You’re taking it rather well, at least.”

“Oh, I freaked out for a good 3 hours, I just did it at home, with Tikki talking me down. But in the end, I really do think this will all be ok.”

He smiled down at her as she stepped away and turned to leave.

“Thank you, My Lady. It really means a lot.”

“Good night, Chaton, I’ll see you soon.” She slung her yoyo out and whipped away, though her mind stayed with her partner on that rooftop.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think of Chat's theory? I have PLANS for that


	4. The Apology

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've seen the comments about why Marinette didn't tell him her identity, especially since he's so fearful for her. The short version is that it's dangerous, and Adrien/Chat understands that now, and they both want to keep the secret. I'll try to go back and edit to make it more clear at some point, but my writing time is currently VERY limited and I really REALLY want to get to the conversation with Master Fu - I'm really excited for my idea for that, as it relates to Adrien's theory about the miraculouses. But that needs to be set up first, so I'm going to focus on moving forward for now. Thank you all so much for your comments, it helps motivate me to finish the story!

The rest of the weekend passed without further drama or any sign of worried green-eyed blond-haired boys.

_Oh wait, just one._

This was still going to take some getting used to.

Monday morning saw Marinette walking into her classroom, on time for once, though the majority of the class was already there. They were gathered in small groups as they discussed their various weekend activities. She carried a box from the bakery, her parents having over-baked for the movie premier weekend and given her the extras for her friends. She put it down in front of Adrien, who turned to her from his conversation with Chloe when he realized she was there, and then smiled widely when he saw her offering.

“Thanks, Marinette! Mmmm, your parents make the BEST croissants in the world!”

“Oh, I don’t know, I don’t think I ever told you about the croissants I made for the King of Achu, he said they were the best he’d ever tasted!”

Marinette turned slowly towards the silky voice from the back of the class.

“Really, Lila? That sounds amazing!” Mylene piped in.

“Yeah, they’re made with milk instead of butter, so they’re actually not as fattening as regular croissants, and they’re not as boring and they don’t go… stale.” She added with a pointed look at Marinette.

Balling her hands into fists, Marinette glared in Lila’s direction.

_Of all the ridiculous, stupid, insulting…_

She glanced down at Adrien and saw him looking between the two of them with an uncertainty in his eyes.

_Ugh, high road then._

“How… interesting,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Why have you never made them for us, Lila? Can you give me the recipe?” Rose chirped.

“Oh, well, they need a special milk from the kingdom of Achu, and actually the king didn’t want me to share the recipe because he wanted them to be reserved for royalty, since they were so delicious. In fact-“

“Uhhhhh actually, Lila!” Everyone turned in surprise to look at Adrien, who was stammering his way through his interruption.

“A-are you sure they were… CROISSANT croissants? I- I mean…” He glanced at Marinette, apparently for help, but as she had no idea what he was getting at she merely arched her eyebrow in question.

Lila’s tinkling laugh didn’t quite disguise her irritation, though only Marinette and Adrien seemed to notice it. “Why of course, Adrien, whatever do you mean?”

“I-It’s just that… that… I think maybe you might mean biscuits instead of croissants? Or scones?”

Though Lila narrowed her eyes at him in apparent confusion, Adrien appeared to take courage when she didn’t dismiss his offered alternative.

“Y-you see, you have to use butter to make croissants, you can’t make them with milk. The hydrocarbons in the fatty acid tail of the fat molecules in butter have to be saturated in order to bind properly with the amino acids in the gluten of the flour. The extra hydroxyl groups in the lactose molecules in milk wouldn’t allow for the right bond. Milk doesn’t have enough of the right kind of fat, and the extra liquid wouldn’t allow them to be flaky, so I think maybe you were thinking of scones?”

Marinette’s stared at Adrien as he continued to look up at Lila, who herself fixated on him with a quizzical expression on her face.

“Oh, I forgot! Yes, that’s what we call them here. The translation for “croissant” in Achu is the same word.”

Murmurs of understanding and “It’s amazing you know so many languages!” rippled through the class. Adrien turned back to Marinette and started when he found her staring him down.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Ms. Bustier chose that moment to stride into the classroom, take a croissant herself with a delighted smile, and usher them all into their seats.

Marinette stewed through the morning, her eyes burning a hole in the back of the blond head in front of her, twisting her pen until it snapped and she had to briefly excuse herself to clean the ink off her hands and her book. Upon her return she kept her hands quiet but didn’t stop glaring at Adrien’s oblivious back and pointedly ignored Alya’s repeated attempts to get her attention.

As the bell rang for lunch Marinette sprang up from her seat and was in the front of the classroom before anyone else had even had a chance to move. She smacked her hands on Adrien’s desk a bit harder than she intended, causing him and Nino to jump in surprise. She ignored it.

“Hey Adrien, would you like to have lunch with me today? I was hoping you could help me with some questions about the physics quiz this afternoon.”

She ignored Alya’s exuberant (if surprised) thumbs up and Nino’s unsubtle excitement looking back and forth between them. Determination burning in her blue eyes, she kept them locked on Adrien’s green ones, brooking no argument. She was Ladybug, he was Chat Noir, and she knew he would follow her lead when it was important, whether he was conscious of it or not. 

“S-Sure, Marinette. Where would you like to go?”

“Oh my house, my parents will give us a sandwich and we can have some quiet for studying. Is that ok?” she added.

“O-Of course! Let me just get my book from my locker and we can go.”

Classmates smiles and whispers were ignored, books were acquired, and she set off with a purposeful stride towards her home. She could feel Adrien follow a step behind her right shoulder, as if he belonged there.

They entered the bakery, the cheerful jingle of the bell on the door going largely ignored as Sabine and Tom were busy with the lunch time rush, but Marinette caught Sabine’s eye as they approached the counter pass through.

“Himom,AdrienandIaregoingtostudyforthephysicsquizoverlunch,thatok?Thanksbye!”

Pulling Adrien along with her, they were past the counter and up the back stairs before Sabine had even had a chance to decipher what she’d said.

Marinette gestured for Adrien to take a seat at the table and turned to dig into the fridge for sandwich makings. As she spread mayonnaise on the first piece of bread, she finally looked up at him.

“You told me we should be ignoring Lila, let her be, let her get caught in her lies on her own,” she began. “’Calling her out will only make her lash out, get her akumatized,’ you said. So do you want to explain what that was all about this morning? Why you suddenly decided to expose that nonsense?”

Adrien’s eyes were wide as he looked at her. “I- I could see how upset she was making you. It wasn’t right to let you bear the brunt of it.”

“I’ve been bearing the brunt of it since she came back, Adrien! Why now? I found out about-“ she gestured to all of him. “-Well- YOU, and all of a sudden it’s important?”

He looked stricken. “No! It’s just- For the first time, I was paying attention. I saw how much it was affecting you, I hadn’t realized that before.”

He quailed a bit under the glare she leveled at him.

“It’s- you’ve got to understand…” he huffed out a breath and dug his fingers into his hair, much as she had done to him after the premier. “I’ve been a celebrity almost my entire life. People say all kinds of things about me, in all kinds of forums. I ignore it. I have to. If I say even one thing in denial of any of it, that becomes the story. A story that would fade into oblivion within an hour suddenly has a 2 week life span, no matter how ridiculous it is. Responding at all just feeds the attention seeking jerks and creates more problems. Ignoring it is the only reasonable choice.”

Her glare lessened. This was a fair point.

“I should have been paying more attention to how Lila was affecting you. I lumped her in with the internet trolls and didn’t think further than that. But I was paying attention today, since I was already worried that you could be a target for Hawkmoth, because of me. And I saw how much it hurt you. And I realized that this isn’t the same as my situation. She’s not an anonymous online jerk, she’s got the ear of your friends. She’s conning your friends and she’s hurting you.”

He looked up at her, his eyes pleading.

“Marinette, I’m really really sorry. I should have seen it earlier, it shouldn’t have taken you finding out about-“ he gestured to all of himself. “Well- ME, for me to see your feelings about it. I’m so sorry.”

She regarded him thoughtfully as she finished slicing their sandwiches. Then she gave him a small smile.

“Apology accepted. Thank you.” She slid the baguette with ham and brie and piled with spicy greens across to him, taking pleasure in the way his eyes widened at the food before him. The lunches he usually had were pathetic, and clearly not designed with “superhero parkour workouts” taken into account.

After a moment she asked “So was that all true?”

“Wash WAT tue?” he mumbled through a mouthful of bread.

“What you said to Lila. About hydrogen bonds and lactose molecules. I know you need butter for baking, especially croissants, but I don’t know the chemistry behind it.”

He swallowed before answering. “Oh, uh, I’m not exactly sure, maybe. I mean all those things are true, but I don’t actually know if that’s why croissants are flaky. That’s one thing I picked up fighting akumas.” He waved his hand around in a circle. “Just keep talking AT them, they get annoyed or confused and don’t fight back as effectively. Turns out it works on liars too.”

He grinned and they both laughed.

They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, until Adrien lowered his sandwich and looked at her thoughtfully.

“You’re different around me.”

“What?”

_Whatdoeshemeanbythat?HowamIdifferent?Well,ItalkedtohimtodayinsteadofchokingonmysalivasoIguess…_

“You’ve been different around me since you found out about – well – ME. Even the first night, last Friday. You were teasing me then. You’ve talked to me more in the last 3 days than I think you have in the last 2 years.”

If she weren’t his superhero partner she might have missed it, but she could hear the hurt, and subtle fear, wavering slightly in the undertones of his voice.

She lowered her own sandwich and met his eyes. “Well… I guess… realizing that you’re – YOU – I mean… if you’re the same guy who wears a bell on his supersuit and makes terrible cat puns at inappropriate times… you can’t really be all that… intimidating.”

“Oh. I always had the impression you didn’t really like me.” The smile started at the corners of his mouth, like he was trying to hide it, but it spread slowly across his face, lighting up his eyes in a way that never came through in his model photographs.

“So wait, you mean to tell me that finding out I’m a superhero makes me _LESS_ impressive?”

Even though the joke was sort of at her expense, she would have given anything to keep that laughter in his eyes all the time.

She rolled her eyes and swatted at him half-heartedly as his grin grew into soft chuckles.

“Shut up, you know what I mean!”

“’Fraid I don’t, Princess, I think I’m going to need a better explanation than that!”

“Princess? Gracious, I thought only I could call you that!”

The booming voice from the top of the stairs brought them up short. 

“Uh, h-hi dad,” Marinette stammered as she realized they’d gotten too careless with their conversation. “It’s just a bit of a joke." 

Tom laughed. “Don’t worry sweetpea! I’m not offended! As long as he TREATS you like a princess, he can call you that too!”

“DAD! No-! I don’t-! We’re not-!” Marinette buried her head in her hands. “Please not this again. We’re not dating. No one is breaking my heart. We’re just friends.” Her head shot up and her eyes locked on to Adrien’s. “Let’s go study for that quiz!”

Catching sight of his expression she added, “You can bring the rest of your sandwich with you.”

She stood and bolted up the next set of stairs towards her room, Adrien following behind her without question. As always.


	5. The Akumas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to write real action scenes, and then gave it up. Trust me you don't want to read them, lol

Thus began the action plan “Marinette is a better friend to Adrien”. She was feeling guilty. She had pushed him away as Chat and put him on a pedestal as Adrien and never noticed how lonely and isolated he was as either one. It was time to do better. To be a friend to the person he actually was, not who she imagined him to be in her head.

Her miraculous ( _ha!_ ) sudden ability to not only speak to Adrien like a normal person, but to dish out puns and teasing around him did not escape Alya’s notice, and in the courtyard after school got out, she demanded answers.

“Girl, I mean good for you and all, but what the hell happened at that lunch?”

“Alya…”

“Seriously though! You went from not being able to make eye contact on Friday, to over-aggressively asking him to lunch yesterday, to teasing him like you’ve been best friends forever today! What happened??”

_If only you knew._

Marinette sighed, choosing her words VERY carefully. “I just… I was watching him pose for everything at the premier on Friday, and then I heard his voice as the Chat Noir character in the movie, and I realized that… that… that the posing model persona… that’s not really him. And I wasn’t being fair to him.”

Alya’s smirk grew to a full teasing grin. “I’ve been telling you that for YEARS, girl! The boy is a total dork! You had to imagine him in cat ears to figure that out? 

Marinette eyed Alya carefully, but she didn’t seem to be at all suspicious of what she had said. It seemed Tikki was right. She’d have to tell Adrien… wait, it was Ladybug who knew about the glamour.

_Ugh, this is complicated._

Alya’s grin grew more wicked. “So then what was with the desk-flipping yesterday? I was half expecting you to carry him off over your shoulder if he’d refused!”

“Shut up, I didn’t flip the stupid desk! And I didn’t say I was GOOD at talking to him yet, I’m working on it!”

Alya’s smile shifted to warmth. “I can see that girl, and you’re doing amazing. I can see how he’s responding to you too. 

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked, surprised.

“Seriously? He looks happier today than I think I’ve ever seen him. Especially when talking to my girl here.”

Marinette looked over to where Adrien was fist-bumping Nino goodbye. He turned toward the silver sedan that had just pulled up to the curve, but first looked over towards the girls. Catching Marinette’s eye, he smiled broadly as he waved at them before disappearing into the car.

“See?” Alya asked with an elbow to her side. “What’d I tell you?”

Marinette did see. And paying more attention the following morning, she saw it in every interaction. His laugh was easier. His tone more playful. His smile took on a little more of Chat’s roguishness as he made a terrible pun that had Nino begging Marinette to save him from their friend’s awful humor.

She took the opportunity to ask him to have lunch with her again, citing her way-higher-than-normal performance on the physics quiz and asking him to help her with the homework. 

They sat on the floor in her room, eating sandwiches and cookies and going over the principles of kinetic energy while Plagg “snuggled” the “black cat pillow” on Marinette’s loft. Marinette eyed the boy across from her thoughtfully.

“What?” 

She blinked. She hadn’t realized she’d been staring.

“Now _you’re_ different around _me_ ,” she said. “Alya pointed it out yesterday. You’re more… Chat-ish. Your laugh and smile are different. Good different! But…”

Adrien stared at her in wonder. “You… you notice all that?”

Marinette blushed.

“It’s hard to miss now that I know about… well… YOU,” as she gestured to him.

He was quiet for a moment.

“Thank you,” he said finally. 

“For what?”

He looked down at his hands, then back up to meet her eyes. “It’s nice. To feel… seen. Like I can be more myself because you already know me. I don’t have to pretend, one way or the other. I’ve felt that way since Friday, it’s like a weight off my shoulders, at least around you and Alya and Nino. So, thank you.”

To stop herself from crying, she launched herself across the floor and pulled him into a fierce hug.

“I’m just sorry it took me so long,” she choked into his shoulder, as his arms wrapped around her back in return.

He chuckled slightly. “Well, secret identities and all that. You weren’t supposed to be able to see past the mask.” 

“Which one?”

_UUUGGGHHH did I really just say that out loud?!_

He was pulling back to look at her softly, a wry, sad little smirk at the corner of his mouth, so yes, yes she DID just say that out loud.

“Both, I guess. But like I said, it means a lot that you did. So thank you, princess.” He pulled her hand up to place a soft, quick kiss on her knuckles.

She blinked owlishly up at him for far too long before she realized she was staring. And still in his arms, holding his hand. “S-sorry! I’m still getting used to your Chat-isms coming from Adrien!”

He laughed and released her.

“Guess you’ll just have to puuuurrractice then,” he said with a wink and a laugh.

The terrible pun was enough to break the spell, causing her to groan and drop back down to the pile of equations on the chaise.

“Whatever Professor, we have to get back soon, can you explain how to find the velocity in this equation?”

- 

The first akuma that week came that afternoon, at the _Gabriel_ photoshoot Adrien was doing. Tikki had been skeptical of the theory that Hawkmoth was drawn to the magic of the Miraculous.

“If that were true, he would have figured out your identities by now, Marinette!”

She made a good point, but still, here was yet another akuma in Adrien’s vicinity. Luckily, she proved easy to manage, being merely a young intern who had been reduced to tears by the Boss’s acerbity. Chat had given Ladybug a meaningful glance as he helped the girl back to her work before they parted.

“But Tikki,” a now de-transformed Marinette protested, “It’s ANOTHER akuma within 50 yards of Adrien! Doesn’t that mean something?”

“I think it most likely means that M. Gabriel Agreste is a jerk and Adrien’s frequent presence is just a side effect of him being his father,” Tikki shrugged in return. “I’ve been around a long time and while the kwamis are not told all the Miraculous secrets, I believe I would feel it if there was attraction between the gems. I can barely even detect Plagg and that’s after knowing who Chat really is. And even then I think it’s more the stink of cheese,” she added with a wink. 

Marinette couldn’t help but smirk.

The second akuma of the week, however, came the very next morning, just a few minutes after Ms. Bustier had finished roll call. A loud bang from the courtyard startled them all, prompting Nino to take a peek out the window and report that the akuma had burst out of the locker room and appeared to be turning late students into minions. 

_Yet ANOTHER akuma near us._

As Ms. Bustier initiated akuma-lockdown, Marinette, against protocol and over a squealing Alya, flung herself at the window to see for herself. The victims were actual minions, yellow and small and running about comically, while the akuma himself was definitely more impressive than Gru. She was reminded vaguely of Puppeteer crossed with Reflekta. She flicked her eyes across the room to Juleka, but caught Adrien’s in the process. Just as Ms. Bustier finished pulling the blinds and pushed her under her desk.

 _Crap._  

She leaned on the leg of the desk and looked at Adrien, who was looking back at her with wide eyes.

“Uhh, Ms. Bustier!” He turned towards their teacher. “My bodyguard will want…”

“Your father has been consulted since the last one, Adrien. He agrees it’s safest for you to remain with the class in lockdown when an akuma targets the school. Please remain quiet.” 

 _Double crap_. 

_Ok. I need a plan. WE need a plan._

Marinette looked around the room, trying to figure out how they were going to get out of there. No one except Adrien looked particularly concerned. Akumas were almost standard at this point, as ridiculous as that was. Alya was crouching at the wall, her phone slipped up behind the blinds, trying to record whatever the akuma was doing without Ms. Bustier noticing.

Marinette crept over to her friend. 

“Psst hey, what’s going on out there?”

“Not sure yet. There’s no sign of Ladybug or Chat Noir, and I can’t really tell what he’s after. It looks like the yellow things are, wait, look, what are they..?” 

Marinette tried to peer up at the phone, but gave up quickly in favor of peeking directly out the window. The minions seemed to be rummaging through the lockers, scurrying in and out of the locker room and bringing the akuma various items. And suddenly, Marinette knew how she was going to get out of there.

 _Ugh, I’m going to get in soooo much trouble for this_.

She glanced down at Tikki who nodded at her, then turned around and caught Adrien’s eye again, and saw his expression immediately morph from anxiety to anticipation without his apparently noticing. 

 _Wow._  

“Marinette,” Ms. Bustier called from the front of the room. “Sit down this..”

“MY DIARY!!!” she shrieked. “YOU CAN’T READ MY DIARY!!!”

She bolted towards the door, Tikki phasing through the lock just as she reached it, hidden by her body. Marinette yanked it open just as the rest of the class caught on. Screams of “Marinette!” followed her as she darted down the hallway, away from the actual locker room, but hopefully no one would notice that little detail.

“Marinette! What the hell are you doing?!” 

Quicker than even she expected, a strong hand formed a vice grip on her upper arm and yanked her into an empty classroom. Adrien locked the door behind them and spun her around, seizing her other arm so tightly it was almost painful, and pulled her to face him.

“Marinette! What were you thinking?!”

Marinette couldn’t help but notice that his hands were cold, clammy, and shaking slightly. But she couldn’t bring herself to feel bad.

“We’re out of there, right?”

Adrien blinked at her. Then looked around the empty classroom. Then back at her, this time with something like awe twinkling at the corners of the fear in his eyes.

Before he could say anything though, there was a bang against the door, and the silhouettes of the akuma’s minions grew against the blinds. Her sprint down the hallway obviously hadn’t gone unnoticed. Adrien yanked Marinette behind him.

“Plagg, claws out!” In a flash of green light, Chat Noir took Adrien’s place.

Before he could dart out the door, Marinette grabbed his arm.

“Stop!! Everyone just saw Adrien and Marinette hide in an empty classroom! You can’t go out the same door as Chat!”

He stopped and looked back at her, impressed.

“Whatever would I do without you, Princess?” He looked around. “Window then, but I’m not leaving you here on your own.”

“I’ll be fine, it’s been too long, you need to get to the akuma.”

“I am NOT leaving you here alone! He obviously saw us come in here!”

“Chat...”

“No WAY!” He scooped her up and carried her to the window with him, but stopped as he realized that the windows in this room only opened about 8 inches. Enough space for a scrawny cat to squeeze through, but not with a power-less civilian. He frowned and spun around, looking for another way.

“Chat! Put me down! GO!” She grabbed his face and made him look at her. “I’ll be fine! I’ll hide in that closet! Just go!” 

She watched the anguish bloom in his face as she saw him come to the conclusion she had. VERY reluctantly, he brought her to the closet and let her down inside.

“Just… please. Please stay safe, Princess!”

“Hey, I'll be fine, I promise. Please just go, they need you.”

With a worried backward glance, he pulled himself through the gap in the window and was gone.

Marinette looked down at Tikki.

“Yeah, I’m going to have tell him,” she sighed. “Tikki, spots on!”

 

The battle fully cemented Ladybug’s conviction that she would have to tell Chat her identity. This akuma, a student whose project for the science fair was mocked by a classmate, wasn’t any stronger than yesterdays had been, but Chat was clearly distracted. Despite their general ineptitude and harmlessness, he was making a point of keeping the minions away from the classrooms rather than focusing on the main battle, and as such it took longer than it should have to break the “ray gun” and free the victim.

Almost as soon as the ladybugs had finished their sweep, Chat was heading for the classrooms again, customary fist bump forgotten. Ladybug had to grab him by the tail to get his attention.

“Hey Chat, I need to talk to you,” she said, even as her earrings beeped.

“Oh uh, yeah sure, but I…” he replied, looking back and forth between her and the classroom Marinette was supposed to be hiding in. His ring beeped twice, apparently surprising him.

Ladybug threw out her yo-yo and pulled him with her up onto the roof.

“It’s important, Kitty,” she said in a low voice, even though they were now removed from the other students. “Meet me at Marinette’s house this evening?”

The request clearly took him completely by surprise. “O-of course, My Lady! Wh-what time?”

“Whenever you can make it, I don’t know how closely you’re monitored in the evenings,” she replied with a little wry smile which was met with one of his own.

“Thanks Chat,” she continued as both their gems beeped yet again. “Now get clear. Don’t waste time looking for civilians, you know they’re fine!” she added in admonishment, even as he turned back to look at the classroom again.

Pressing his lips into a line, he acquiesced. “Yeah, ok, I know you’re right, I just…”

“Chat, really. Get out of sight. I’ll see you tonight.” She gave him a smile and was gone.

 

 


	6. The Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next were supposed to be one, but it grew totally out of hand. I'm going to try and push through and finish this story soon because I need to get it out of my head and get back to my other obligations, like work.

Marinette accepted Ms. Bustier’s lecture on safety and priorities with the appropriate level of contrition and remorse, though she did feel a pang of guilt as she later saw the beloved teacher receive her own lecture from the Principal on ensuring the fastness of the doors. Locks that could thwart a demigod had yet to be invented. 

She did not, however, accept a similar lecture from Adrien when he cornered her at lunch.

“I’m not sorry.”

“Marinette, it’s DANGEROUS. ESPECIALLY for you! You can’t-“

“I’m still not sorry. I would do it again. You needed to get out of there, and chasing after silly-ol’ me is a perfect excuse that wouldn’t get you in any kind of trouble. It was perfect,” she added, offering up her hand for a high five in an attempt to deflect the questioning.

He frowned at her, grabbing her hand instead and holding it in both of his.

“It got YOU in trouble, though. And I’ll repeat, it’s DANGEROUS, and with what you know-“

“Adrien,” she said, squeezing his hand. “We’ve been over this. I can take care of myself. And I know I can count on you for the rest.”

He did smile a little at that. “Of course you can, but still. I wish you wouldn’t put yourself at risk like that." 

She sighed. “I will promise you this, I won’t do anything crazy unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Guess I’ll have to take what I can get.”

“There’s a good Kitty,” she said, as she poked his nose. As she saw his eyes cross in confusion, she realized that she was still Marinette and hastily pulled her hand back. Too late for the association to be missed, however.

“Um, Marinette, after the battle… um, Ladybug asked me to meet her tonight. At your house.”

“Uhhh, yeaaah. Yeah, I know.”

“Do yo- Do you know what she wants to talk to me about? And why at your house? We usually meet at the Eiffel Tower or something.”

“Uhhh- I- I do know, yeah.”

_Why the HELL can’t I lie to this boy?_

“Aaaaare you going to tell me?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“No.” _At least not yet_.

“Some friend you are,” he teased, making a show of dropping her hand.

“I’ll have you know I am an _excellent_ friend,” she teased back.

His smirk dropped into a soft smile. “You’ve got me there, Princess.”

The bell for class rang before she could figure out what to say.

“I guess I’ll see you later,” he said. “I’ll try not to freak out.”

 

-

 

Marinette was freaking out. Her heartrate maintained an abnormally high rhythm all evening and her breathing was sufficiently shallow to draw concerned questions from her parents, resulting in their suggesting she go to bed early. She went upstairs but continued to pace and fidget and try to shake the nerves out through her fingers, but nothing worked.

“Marinette, worrying yourself sick is not going to help,” Tikki admonished gently.

“I can’t help it, Tikki! I’m _terrified!_ What if he hates me for keeping it a secret?!”

“He’s not going to hate you, Marinette!” 

“You don’t know that!”

“I do, actually. Adrien loves you, he cherishes your friendship, and he told you yesterday that he feels like a weight is lifted from him when he’s with you! He might need some time to process it, but you did too. You have to trust him.”

“This is literally the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Marinette whispered to her kwami as she dropped into her desk chair. “Give me Hawkmoth and his akuma army any day.”

Tikki gave her a sympathetic look and nuzzled her cheek.

Marinette took a deep, shaky breath.

“Do you think I should be Ladybug when he gets here? Or Marinette? Would it be better to de-transform, or just tell him as me? He might not believe me. He’s expecting Ladybug, but this is my house so maybe he’s expecting Marinette too? But maybe I would have left to give him and Ladybug privacy. But I don’t know if-“

“Marinette!” Tikki admonished. “You’re spiraling. Try not to overthink this, really, you can do whateve-“

She was interrupted by the chime of Marinette’s phone.

[Adrien: OMW, not sure if you’ll be there, but thought I’d give you a heads up]

“Tikki, spots on!” Marinette cried immediately.

_I guess that’s that decision made._

She felt better in the suit. The mask offered her a layer of protection for just a few moments longer, shielding her heart like the armor that it was. But she couldn’t help but resume her pacing around her room.

All too soon, she heard a thump on her roof and the familiar tapping on her skylight. Ladybug waved her partner in, her heart in her throat.

Chat landed on the floor with a thump, then stood and offered her his customary bow.

“Good evening, m’lady. I hope I haven’t kept you wai- Hey, are you ok?” he asked as he straightened up.

Ladybug knew she must look a wreck. Her breathing was still rapid and shallow and try as she might she couldn’t keep her hands from clenching.

Looking into the concerned green eyes of her partner, her friend, Ladybug felt every bit of what she stood to lose. She started pacing again.

_I can’t do this. I can’t. I have to. I can’t!_

“Ladybug?”

_I HAVE to!_

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Sorry, Chat. I’m super nervous about this.”

His ears and tail drooped. “Is it… did I… is it… me?”

“No!” she cried, grabbing his hand. “Oh, Chat I’m sorry, you’re fine, well, I mean… it IS about you, but not… about YOU, it’s just…”

She stopped and took another deep breath.

“Ok. Ok I can do this. Just, let me talk? I need to just get it all out and I think it will be easier I can just…“ She mimed emptying herself with her hands. He nodded.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about your theory about Hawkmoth and the Miraculouses. Tikki doesn’t buy it, but after the last two akumas, I really think there must be SOMETHING to it. And I think we need to talk to Master Fu about it. Of course, we can’t go in costume, we attract too much attention. But I also really think we need to talk to him about this _together._ ”

She saw his eyes widen and his mouth open to say something, but she held up her hand to stop him.

“No, please… please, just let me get this out,” she said, her voice starting to waver as her heart rate picked up even further.

“Apart from that, it was clear today that I made the wrong choice last week. My knowing who you are has made us stronger in some ways; even though you don’t know it, I’ve been able to help you as a civilian.” She caught the flash of surprise in his eyes.

“I was also able to see you for who you really are. And we’re better for it. But you _not_ knowing who _I_ am is a liability. It’s also not fair to you. I want our relationship to strengthen _in_ the mask as well as out of it, I want us to be able to help _each other_ , not just…”

She took another deep breath and looked up at him, seeing him frozen in place as he stared at her.

“I need to tell you who I am.”

His eyes widened even further.

“Is… is that ok? I won’t force it on you, but I really think…” she trailed off.

He pressed his lips together into a thin line and took a deep shaky breath of his own. Then he nodded.

“Ok… ok.” Her hands were back to clenching again. “Ok, Tikki, spots off!”

_Please don’t hate me, please don’t hate me…_

She closed her eyes as she felt the magic erase the suit from her body. The silence that followed was deafening. Cautiously, she cracked one eye open to peek at his reaction.

He hadn’t moved an inch, his expression frozen, his eyes wide as he stared at her.

She straightened and looked at him fully, the question in her face.

“Chat?”

He didn’t move.

“Chaton?”

The nickname seemed to jolt him back to reality.

“It-It’s you.”

“It’s me.” Her voice was still wavering.

“Marinette! It’s been you the whole time!”

She cringed at accusation and hurt in his voice.

“Yes.”

“I-I was so worried about you!”

“I know, but-“

“And you’ve been Ladybug the whole time! Ladybug is you!”

“Yes, but-“

“You must have thought I was being such an idiot!” He started pacing her room, his hands clutching in his hair.

“No! Chat I-“

“And you let me worry! Even today, you just let me worry!”

She felt tears pricking at her eyes.

“Chat, Adrien, please, I-“

“I talked about _you_ … to YOU. And I talked about YOU to _you!_ And you just let me!”

“I know, I KNOW, but I couldn’t-“

“You let me go on and on about you!”

She didn’t say anything, her nails digging into the palms of her hands as she watched him pace.

“I can’t right now, I can’t, I can’t…” his chest was heaving with emotion as he looked wildly around her room.

She watched him desperately, her fists clenched in tightly to her body, fighting to keep the tears from spilling from her eyes.

“Adrien, please…" 

He looked up at her, every emotion written in his eyes, his hands still pulling at his hair.

“It’s you. I need… I need to think, I can’t… I can’t.”

He extended his baton, launched himself out of her skylight, and was gone.

 

Marinette’s legs gave out from under her and she collapsed into her desk chair. A wave of nausea threatened to overcome her, and her vision went fuzzy at the edges. Her lungs seized and her chest heaved as she took desperate, gasping breaths trying to get air past the constriction in her throat.

Tikki appeared in the tunnel of her vision. “Marinette? Marinette, breathe!”

“I can’t- I can’t- Tikki, I’ve ruined it! I’ve-“ she gasped as the tears in her eyes fell freely down her cheeks.

“Marinette, just give him time.”

“I’ve ruin- I’ve ruined everything! He’s- he’s-“ Her despair was still suffocating her, her chest still refused to expand. She didn’t even notice the flow of tears soaking her lap as they dripped off her face.

There was a loud thump, and Marinette felt herself yanked from the chair into a vice-like contraction against something firm and warm. The press of leather against her cheek and the slight prick of claws at her sides pulled her from her spiral. The racing heartbeat she felt throbbing through his body loosened the constriction in her chest with every pulse, and her shuddering gasps began to fill her lungs with air again.

“It’s you.” She heard that beloved voice, _his_ beloved voice murmur into her hair he clung to her.

She choked back her sobs and wrapped her arms as tightly as she could around him, squeezing her eyes shut and letting her tears flow against his suit.

“It’s _you,_ ” he repeated. “It’s YOU, it’s you, it’s _you_ , it’s you, it’s you..."


	7. The Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One long last chapter. Thanks for all the wonderful comments and kudos, I've had such fun writing this!

The two teens clutched each other for what seemed like hours. At some point Chat de-transformed, but all Marinette remembered of that was the sensation of the magic against her skin and then the warmth of bare fingers in her hair as he continued to hold her to him. Her breathing had evened out as she slowly accepted that he was there, that he wasn’t leaving her, and that she hadn’t destroyed their partnership and friendship by keeping her secret. 

Finally he spoke.

“I’m so, so sorry.” Adrien’s voice was barely above a whisper.

She sniffled a little before answering. “For what?”

“I left!”

“You came right back.”

“But I swore I’d always be there for you, BOTH sides of you, and I freaked out and ran away!”

“It’s no more than what I did to you last Friday after the movie premier.”

He hesitated a moment. “It’s not the same.”

“It kind of is.”

“I’m also sorry about rambling on to you about you. I’m so embarrassed, I hope you know-“

“Hush Chaton,” she pulled back to look at him and cut him off by pressing her thumbs to his mouth as she cupped his face with her hands. His excessive (and, in her mind, unnecessary) guilt gave her strength back as she drew on the need to reassure him. He looked down at her with wide eyes, the red rims of them making his green irises seem even brighter than normal, and she couldn’t help but stroke her thumb across his lips, hoping to smooth out the downturned corners of his mouth, before she dropped her hands to his waist again.

“You were worried, and you didn’t know. And that’s my fault.”

He blinked several times as if it took a moment for him to hear her.

“I didn’t _want_ to know! And now you felt like you had to reveal yourself because I was being an idiot.”

“Stop it, Kitty,” she pinched his side, making him squirm and smile despite himself. “We’re done fighting for blame here. We’re fine.”

“As you wish, My Lady,” he sighed, pulling her back into a hug.

She chuffed in surprise. “Did you watch the Princess Bride?!”

“Of course, you basically told me I had to, and I always do as My Lady commands.”

“I told you that as Marinette, not as Ladybug.”

She felt him rest his cheek on the top of her head as he said, “My Princess, then. Same difference.”

She allowed herself a few more minutes of comfort, standing safely in his arms, his strong heartbeat reverberating in her ears.

“We have to go talk to Master Fu,” she said finally.

“Right now?”

“What? No! It’s-“ she turned from him to look at the clock. “2am! God, how are we going to function tomorrow?”

She dragged her hands down her face as her exhaustion hit her. Adrien tugged her back against his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. 

“Practice, right Princess? I don’t know about you, but there’s no way I’m getting any sleep after tonight.”

She rested her hands over the arms encircling her and leaned back into him, humming her agreement.

“Can I… can I stay for a bit longer?” he asked hesitantly. “I’m a bit nervous that if I go home, I’ll wake up alone in my bed and find out this has all been a dream.”

She leaned her head into his affectionately, reaching up to run her fingers into his hair.

“Of course you can, Kitty,” she whispered. “Come on, you can snuggle that black cat pillow I’ve got.”

“No way! That’s for me and Tikki!” The unexpected voice made Marinette jump. She had completely forgotten about Plagg. The red and black kwamis appeared from her loft.

“Tikki!” Adrien exclaimed. “Gosh, I was so overwhelmed about Marinette, I completely forgot about you, I’m so sorry! It’s so nice to meet you!”

“You also, Adrien. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about Plagg giving it away anymore,” she said sweetly, even as she glared at her black companion.

Plagg rolled his eyes. “The drama was exhausting, everything is simpler when it’s out in the open. Glad you finally decided to come clean, Bug,” he added, turning to Marinette.

“Leave her alone!” Tikki admonished. “They were doing what they thought was right.”

“What was RIGHT would hav-“

“Oh my God stop, I’m begging you,” Marinette cut them off. “Plagg and Tikki can keep the pillow, Adrien you… you can just cuddle with me. If that’s ok.”

She looked over her shoulder at him shyly, and felt his arms tighten a little around her middle as he agreed.

After a few minutes of climbing, sorting and shifting of pillows, and rearranging of the comforter, Marinette lay her head down on Adrien’s chest, taking some relief in hearing that his heartbeat was at least as rapid as hers. She hugged his middle in reassurance.

“We really do have to go see Fu,” she murmured. “How about tomorrow after school?”

“I have fencing,” he responded, stroking her shoulder lightly with the arm that was curled around her. “Friday should be free if I can come up with a good reason to be away from the house.”

“How about you come help me study for physics again?”

He snorted and poked her gently. “That excuse isn’t going to hold up if you keep acing every test.”

“Only because you’re an excellent teacher! I neeeeed you, Adrien!” she teased.

“And I need you, Princess,” he whispered back.

As had happened many times over the course of the previous week, Marinette could not find anything to say in response. She settled for squeezing him gently and lacing the fingers of her free hand with his as she closed her eyes. As she let the weight of her exhaustion settle over her, she felt a feather-light kiss pressed to her head.

\--

Marinette woke up alone, but quickly found the note Adrien had left on her pillow explaining that he had to be home before Natalie came to wake him up. As she walked into the classroom later that morning, the intensity of his eyes as they met hers almost took her breath away. It was all she could do to return his quiet ‘good morning’ with one of her own before collapsing into her seat. Alya raised a questioning eyebrow with a smirk but didn’t push when Marinette shook her off. They both managed to make it through the day behaving almost normally, though Marinette was relieved that she sat behind him and didn’t have to feel his eyes on her the whole time.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to handle school if I have to feel your eyes on the back of my head the whole time,” Adrien complained the next day as they made their way to her house to ‘go over the physics homework’.

She looped her arm in his playfully. “You think I’m staring at the back of your head the whole time? What an ego on you, Agreste, I’ll have you know that M. Renard’s lecture on Voltaire had me riveted.”

“The lecture was on Proust, so I can definitely see your point,” he smirked at her and she laughed.

“Ok you’ve got me there, but for the sake of accuracy, it’s your neck I’m staring at, not your head.”

Even as she said it, Marinette felt giddy with the idea that she could _flirt_ with Adrien Agreste and even come across sounding half-way confident. More surprising still was the blush that spread across his cheeks, bringing out the green in his eyes as he chuckled sheepishly.

The lovely weather gave them an easy excuse to escape her parents, and they were soon on their way to ‘study in the park’, decoy backpacks in tow. They grew quieter as they left the bakery behind, and by the time Marinette knocked on the non-descript door of Master Fu’s parlor, all the nerves from Wednesday were back in her stomach.

“Marinette, Adrien,” Master Fu greeted them with a small smile as he opened the door. “This is an unexpected surprise.”

“Hello, Master. We needed to talk to you,” Marinette said as she entered the studio.

“Together? It must be _very_ important.” Marinette saw Adrien cringe a bit at the implied question.

“Yes, well…”

“Perhaps you should start at the beginning,” Master Fu suggested, motioning them to sit on the mats by his low table. “Let me make some tea.”

It didn’t take long for Marinette to tell Master Fu the story, starting with the movie premier and ending with her decision to reveal herself to Adrien, and why. Adrien chimed in periodically with his perceptions of events, though as he only knew half the story for most of it, he generally deferred to Marinette’s version.

“So that brings us to why we’re here, Master,” she concluded. “Adrien has a theory, that the akumas are attracted to our miraculous, because the vast majority of akuma attacks are either near us or involve people we know. I hadn’t made the connection before he pointed it out, but it’s definitely true.”

Master Fu appeared to consider them for a few moments, looking between them as he took a sip of his tea.

“Hmm. That is a very astute observation, Adrien.” He set his cup down and leaned towards them. The teens unconsciously mirrored his movement.

“It is possible that the akumas are drawn to one or both of you, but not _because_ of your miraculous.”

“But then why-?”

“That is not how the power of the miraculous works. Kwamis of paired miraculous can sometimes sense each other, but it is rare, and almost impossible for the wielders themselves. If that were possible, you would have discovered each other’s’ identities long ago, and that of Hawkmoth. The miraculous can harness the energy that exists between certain people, and enhance it, but it doesn’t create it.”

“But there is no doubt that there are more akuma attacks around us than in the general public. How can that be?” Marinette persisted.

“Well, it is possible that Hawkmoth has an energy that is connected to one of you.”

“How could he be connected to us if we don’t know who he is?” Adrien chimed in.

“The magic that connects people together does not require recognition, at least not at first.”

Both Adrien and Marinette blinked at him in confusion.

“I don’t understand,” Marinette confessed.

“Let me put it this way. The two of you, Adrien and Marinette, are not partners because you have the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous. Rather the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous, which are two halves of a whole, were drawn to each you _because_ you _are_ partners. There is a… connection, for lack of a better word, that ties you together. You have _always_ been partners, always been connected to each other.” He gave them a small smile. 

“Whether you knew it or not,” he added.

“What, so this connection, it’s like s-soulmates?” Adrien asked.

“Hmm not exactly, although it’s a similar idea. It is hard to precisely explain the nature of the magic that exists between certain people. But the idea of ‘soulmates’ has a romantic connotation, and that is not necessarily the case. There have been many instances of siblings being wielders, twins in particular. Or in more rare cases, a parent and child.”

“It sounds like it’s a simple as ‘Love’,” Marinette whispered. The few inches between her and Adrien felt charged with electricity.

“Hmm yes, the concept of love is a close approximation, but again, generally human beings feel they have to actually know one another to experience love, and the connection between partners can exist between strangers. Although they don’t usually remain strangers for long.”

“The miraculous brings them together?” Adrien asked.

“Their CONNECTION brings them together. I am sure you felt it, that pull to each other, when you first met, either as Ladybug and Chat Noir or as Marinette and Adrien.”

Marinette felt her cheeks heating up as she glanced towards her partner, and found his green eyes turn towards her at exactly the same moment. She couldn’t turn away if she’d wanted to.

“You have always had this connection between you,” Master Fu continued after a few moments, and Marinette dragged her attention back to him.

“This is how you were able to work together so effectively from the beginning,” he said. “And how you could do so even without your memories. The magic of the miraculous gems makes use of that connection, and enhances it, which is why the pair of you are so synchronized when you work together, especially over time. But it existed between you before you were chosen, and would have still existed even if the miraculous themselves didn’t exist.”

The teenagers could only look at the old man, neither brave enough to break the tension that had settled between them.

Master Fu continued, looking suddenly grave. “While this magic is most effective in drawing the paired miraculous, it can also work with others. You said you suspect that the akumas are drawn to you because of the power of your miraculous. You might be half right. They could be drawn to you, but if so, it would be because there is a connection between Hawkmoth and one or both of you personally.”

Marinette suddenly felt as though someone had doused her in cold water, and gasped. Beside her, she heard Adrien yelp.

“W-we know Hawkmoth?! He’s CONNECTED to one of us?! The way we’re connected to each other??”

“Not the same way, I don’t think. If your bond to him was as strong as your bond to each other, you would not be the people that you are. But I believe it must exist. I believe that Hawkmoth is most sensitive to the emotions of the people around you because of this connection to you.”

Marinette felt like she was going to be sick. Adrien looked as horrified as she felt.

“B-but, you said… you said that this connection can exist between strangers!” Adrien sounded like he was grasping at straws, but Marinette wasn’t going to argue the point.

Master Fu sighed. “Yes, but only initially. As I recall, you both received your miraculous before you met each other, but that lasted mere hours. After two years, even if you didn’t know him before, I can almost assure you that you know him now.”

He looked at the stricken faces of the teenagers before him. “I don’t tell you this to alarm or hurt you, but this kind of knowledge will aid you considerably in trying to determine who he is and what his motivations might be. It will also aid you in strengthening your own partnership, though you hardly need it in that regard,” he added with a small smile.

“Take a few days to process what I’ve told you, what you know to be true, and especially what you feel in your hearts. That is where the magic truly resides.”

He rose, and they followed suit. Marinette still felt shaken, and grasped for Adrien’s hand to steady herself. His strong grip soothed her, even though she could feel his own hand shaking slightly.

They left the small parlor together hand in hand. Both of them were lost in their thoughts, and it didn’t occur to them let go, drawing strength from each other as they were.

They returned to the bakery and Marinette was still so consumed with her emotions that she didn’t notice the softening in her mother’s face as she eyed their joined hands. It was only when they got to the ladder up to her room that they came back to themselves and released them.

In the quiet privacy of her bedroom, however, Marinette became self-conscious again. Adrien sat on her chaise, still apparently lost in his own head, and she wasn’t sure which part of the conversation to bring up first. Finally, she decided on the easier topic.

“Do-do you think it’s true, that Hawkmoth is someone we know?”

He looked up at her, seeming a bit surprised by her question.

“I suppose so. If what Master Fu told us is true, that’s the most likely explanation for the frequency of akuma attacks near us.” He looked down at his hands again.

“What are we supposed to do?” Marinette whispered, clutching her arms around herself. “How are we going to find him?”

In an instant Adrien was on his feet, wrapping her in his arms. “Hey, hey, it’s ok. We’ll make a plan, My Lady. We’ll figure it out. It’s going to be ok.”

She wrapped her arms around him and took a shuddering breath.

“I know. I know, Chaton. It’s just… kind of terrifying to think he could be so close and we had no idea.”

They were both quiet for several minutes.

“Close like we were to each other,” Adrien finally whispered.

Marinette inhaled sharply and held him tighter. He responded in kind.

“Marinette, I’m so sorry if I ever made you uncomfortable,” he began.

“Adrien-“

“No, please, you were able to get your inner turmoil out, it’s my turn now,” he tried to laugh but it rang false in Marinette’s ears.

“I don’t know what you felt, but when Master Fu told us about the connection between us, all I could think about was the first time I met you, when you strung me up from a light pole and then kicked a stone monster’s ass.” He chuckled again, and this time it was truer.

“I was head over heels for Ladybug right from the start. And then I met you as Marinette, and you scared the crap out of me but then seemed become scared of me yourself. But all I could think about was how much I always wanted you to like me. The last week, when you came out of yourself and talked to me like Ladybug talks to Chat… well, I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.”

He paused, but Marinette didn’t interject, unsure if he had more to say.

After a moment, he continued. “You said you felt like our relationship as Marinette and Adrien got stronger after you found out who I am, and you wanted it to get stronger as Ladybug and Chat Noir as well. I want that too, My Lady. I just… I can’t believe it’s even possible that I could be this lucky, that my incredible partner could turn out to be my amazing friend. And I’m scared. I am scared, _really_ scared, about the idea of Hawkmoth being someone we know, but right now, honestly, I’m mostly just absolutely terrified that I’ll screw _this_ up somehow.”

“Oh God, Adrien, no.” She couldn’t let that comment go. This needed to be addressed. She pulled back enough to cup his face with her hands, locking onto his earnest green eyes, which were bright with emotion.

“Chaton. Adrien. You will NEVER lose me, do you understand? Never. I am your partner. _We_ are _partners_. Always. It’s you and me always. Whatever happens, with Hawkmoth or without him, it’s you and me. Understand?”

Adrien swallowed hard and nodded. Marinette leaned up to kiss his cheek and then wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down for another hug.

“I-“ he started. “There’s… there’s one other thing I have to tell you,” he said quietly.

“What’s that, Kitty?”

He took another deep breath.

“Marinette, I’m in love with you.”

_What?_

She pulled back again to look at him, her shock written across her face.

“What?” she whispered.

He looked terrified. But he swallowed and said,

“I’m in love with you. I- You know that Chat has always been in love with Ladybug, but- but I fell in love with Marinette too. And this last week, seeing the Ladybug side of you, even before I knew it was you, it just made that feeling stronger. It- it’s even better, even more, than it was before, because it- it fit. Being with you is comfortable. It’s like coming home, I can breathe easier when you’re around. And I know Ladybug never wanted Chat to get too close, it’s ok if you don’t feel the same way, I don’t need-“

“Whoa, whoa, what?” Marinette’s brain switched back on with a jolt.

He blinked uncertainly. “Uh, I’m in love with you?”

She let out a little squeak. “No, yeah, I mean, I heard that part, it’s just, what-?”

He frowned in confusion. “What?”

“Ladybug never wanted Chat what?”

“I-I know, that’s what I said?”

She couldn’t get her mouth out of her way again. She shook her head in frustration.

_Forget it._

In lieu of trying to explain herself, she grasped the back of his head and leaned up to press her lips to his.

She heard him inhale sharply in his surprise, but he caught on fairly quickly, smart cat that he was. His hand found her waist to steady her as his other wrapped around her back. His soft lips moved gently against hers, responding sweetly to her advance. Slowly, gently, she pulled back a few inches to look at him, keeping her hands and his locked in place.

“I love you too, Adrien.”

He smiled, fully smiled. She was too close to see his mouth properly, but she could see it light up his eyes. His beautiful, expressive eyes, that were full of adoration for _her_. His Lady, his Princess. And he was her Kitty, her Chaton. Her _Adrien_ , in all his forms. She leaned back in to kiss his smiling mouth again, harder this time, and he matched her enthusiasm.

“Ok, ok, we get it, can we hit pause on the mushy human affection and get some food please?”

“Plagg! Leave them alone!”

Adrien pulled away from her with a groan, dropping his head to her shoulder.

“Plagg, I swear, I will give you nothing but cheez whiz for the rest of eternity,” he threatened his kwami from within Marinette’s embrace.

“Please, you don’t scare me, I’m almost certain that garbage is banned in France.”

“I have a friend in America who will send me care packages if I ask.”

Marinette, her arms still around Adrien’s neck, laughed out loud. He straightened to look at her with a grin, and she cupped his cheeks as she beamed at him. 

“It’s you and me, Chaton. You and me and them, and we’ll get through anything together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mini epilogue to follow later today


	8. Epilogue

Two weeks had passed since that evening and Marinette and Adrien had slipped easily into their new relationship, much to the delight of their friends. Their partnership was also stronger than ever, as they could now provide cover for each other as needed, both in order to transform and when they were late returning. And if their friends all thought they were sneaking off to make-out in a secluded corner, well, who were they to argue? They even went so far as to get themselves caught doing just that in order to encourage the idea.

Each new akuma provided more information; clues that they were now tracking and analyzing together in the hopes of piecing together just who might be behind all the magical mayhem in their city. Despite what Master Fu had said, they didn’t limit themselves to their personal connections, as it was much easier to consider the alternative as a possibility. Privately, Marinette had begun to suspect Gabriel Agreste again, partly due to the comment Tikki had made about the number of akumas he caused, and partly due to his connection to Adrien. But she didn’t share this with her partner, not yet. Her Kitty was smart, but that was too close to home to broach without solid evidence.

But tonight, none of that mattered. She and Adrien were curled up together on the lounge on her balcony, mugs of hot chocolate set on the table near them, her head resting comfortably on his chest. Adrien’s fingers were laced through hers across his stomach, their occasional snippets of conversation giving way to sitting in contented quiet, watching the sky darken as night settled over the city they loved.

“So, are you ever going to tell me?” Adrien asked, after a lengthy period of silence.

“Tell you what, Kitty?” she sighed, realizing that she had been in a fair way of dozing off.

“Who the boy you liked was?”

She frowned. “What boy?”

“The boy Ladybug kept turning Chat down for.”

Marinette rolled her eyes at his teasing.

“Ha ha, very funny,” she retorted, pinching his side in retaliation, which was more effective than normal as he was trapped by the arm of the lounger and couldn’t escape her fingers.

“Aaargh, mercy!” he laughed. “You can tell me, you know!”

“I can’t believe you’re giving me crap about this, are you ever going to let me live it down?”

He squeezed her fingers, though it surprised Marinette that it seemed to be more for himself than for her.

“Heh heh, yeah, I guess it doesn’t matter anyway,” he said.

_Wait._

Marinette frowned at the unnatural lightness in his voice. She peered up at him. His posture was relaxed, his smile was bright and full, and once again, it was all total bullshit. His _eyes_ again _._ He looked away, but not before she saw the shadow of doubt and fear in them.

She sat up fully to look at him, even as he kept his eyes on their entwined fingers.

“Wait a minute. You’re serious.”

“What? No, I was just teasing,” he faltered.

“No, you’re not! You’re totally serious!” she exclaimed in disbelief.

At least it got him to drop the act. He sighed.

“Ok, I’m a _little_ serious. I know it’s stupid to be jealous, because you’re here with me now and that should be all that matters, but I still-“

She cut him off by cupping his face with her hands, smooshing his cheeks a bit as she did so. 

“Adrien. Oh my poor, sweet, beautiful, _oblivious_ Kitty,” she purred, and pressed her lips to his in a searing kiss. She waited until she felt him relax into it before nipping his lip and pulling back to look at him, his eyes following her dreamily.

Now his smile was genuine as he looked up at her.

She shook her head with a smile of her own. “It was you, Adrien." 

He blinked. 

“Wait, me?!”

 “I have been in love with you since the day we met.”

 “Seriously?!”

 “Yes, you ridiculous cat! You wanted to be my friend, so you gave me your umbrella and it snapped shut on me and you laughed. This amazing, clear, _real_ laugh, and I was a goner.”

 He was looking at her like she hung the stars for him alone to see. “I guess Master Fu was right after all.”

 “I can’t believe you didn’t realize, I was a complete mess around you.”

 “I was poorly socialized then, and my training in human interaction was in early stages.”

She laughed again and leaned in, softly pressing her lips against his, moving gently and tasting the lingering hot chocolate on his mouth before pulling back slowly.

“It’s always been you, Adrien. It’s you and me.”

“Forever, My Lady,” he answered, leaning up to kiss her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a wrap folks!


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